Week 2 VOF assignment

Life is but a process of exposition to new ideas, inventions, and opportunities. Almost worldwide, many institutional apparatuses try to control and modify this process of exposition so that the person can gradually understand what this new encounter is and perceive it in a way that is unthreatening to the values and beliefs he or she have been raised upon.

I was born into a middle class Lebanese Muslim family. My parents have been sacrificing their own lives and time for the good of their children. They almost always took our opinions in whatever we wanted to pursue. In brief, we have had a voice, unlike most of the females living around. Whether it was my choice of school, university major, or husband,I did what was on my mind.

Yet, until my admission into university, the set of experiences i passed through and the people I met were of similar surroundings and circumstances as those i come from. I was barely exposed to new ideas and opportunities. This changed when I started taking classes and reading materials on different religions, and critics of the oppressing practices against women in the name of Islam. I realized then that not all people see religion in the eyes of mom and dad, or my eyes. Many critics of the treatment of Muslim women do have ground basis, which is the maltreatment of these women in many parts of the world and keeping them voiceless.

By participating in Pulsewire, I first want to connect with women worldwide and hear about different problems that our societies might share. By taking role in the Voices of Our Future competition in particular, I want to learn more on the techniques that may best benefit me in reporting about the conditions of women in my surroundings. I do not only aim to help women who are being oppressed due to extremist interpretations of religion, but also to inform the world out there that there are Muslim women who have a voice. And, most importantly, it is important for me to meet women from different countries and backgrounds to work together in raising the voices of women without necessarily making them disbelievers. It will be a world with more diversity, but with less problems.